The Consultant
by AnInsaneWriter
Summary: In their search to find another villain to help them defeat the K.N.D. the DCFDTL recruit a new villain, The Consultant. He brings plenty of ideas to the table, enough maybe to finally end the K.N.D.
1. Chapter 1

**It should be noted before beginning that this story takes place after Operation Z.E.R.O.**

The doors to the living room opened with a creak, The Delightful Children's heads hung low as they once again approached Father as he sat up right in his chair, facing the glowing fireplace.

They stopped five feet away from the chair, waiting for him to speak the first word.

"So, how long did you last this time?" he asked indifferently.

"We're sorry Father," they responded, ashamed.

Father rotated his chair and looked at the state of his children.

It was the usual scrapes and bruises coupled with disheveled hair. Though there was the rare sight of their clothing being ripped. Varying length of his boys' ties were ripped off, the hem of his girls torn, and at least half of their sleeves where missing. At least they had more of the same clothing in their closets.

The Delightful Children waited for their Father's wrath at yet another one of their failures.

They waited.

And waited.

And waited.

It must've been five minutes before Father let out a soft miserable laugh.

They couldn't stop their mouths from hanging open slightly or exchanging glances with Father as he continued laughing.

"Would you look at me, huh?" He swiveled his chair back towards the fire place. "No flames, not even a flicker."

He stood and approached the fire place. Licks of flames danced in his vision.

"How many times? A thousand? A million? Eleventy-billion? Somewhere in that range is the number of times you've walked through those doors defeated. The number of times I've gone to bed having been humiliated. The number of times everyone on our side has lost to the Kids Next Door.

He walked around his chair and stared down at his children, who stared back in both respect and empathy.

"You all want to become adults, right? And you wanna be prepared for it? Here's something you should know: when others you trust or you yourself fail, you're gonna be furious the first time, and the second, third, fourth, fifth and so on. But each time your anger, your disappointment, your desire to do it right next time dies a little more. And it'll go on and on until it's gone and you feel nothing. Until all you want to do is quit.

Their eyes widened as soon as his last word entered their ears.

"But Father!" they exclaimed. "You can't quit! You're the best there is!"

"And it still isn't enough," he responded as he stretched his hand out toward the fire and made it vanish, leaving only the moon and the stars outside the window to illuminate the room.

"Father," they began as he walked past them.

He opened the doors to the hallway and gestured to the right.

"You all head to your rooms, clean up, and head to bed. We'll talk about this more in the morning."

Their heads hung low once more, this time to hide their watery eyes.

"Yes Father."

They exited the room as slowly as they had walked in.

Father watched them go down the hall, separate off and enter their rooms. Then he closed the doors, returned to his chair, and stared at the lightless fireplace.


	2. Chapter 2

The Delightful Children entered their dining room at precisely 7:30 am as they did every morning. Jeeves, one of the manor's butlers, set down their breakfast at the end of the table; five glasses of orange juice and five plates with scrambled eggs with two strips of bacon.

They sat down in their chairs and stared down at the opposite end of the table.

Usually, Father would bid them good morning peeking out from atop his newspaper as he held a mug of black coffee in his other hand.

Today, however, his mug sat on the table, along with an untouched newspaper.

"Jeeves, do you know why Father is running late?" they inquired.

"Well young masters, when your father didn't come to the kitchen on schedule, I went upstairs to check on him. On my way to his room, I heard snoring come from the living room. He must have worked late last night. I'm sure he'll be up and about soon.

They didn't respond. The children in front of the group passed two of the plates to the children in the back of the group and they began eating in silence.

They certainly anticipated that Father might still be depressed in the morning, but to miss his coffee and newspaper? He never did that.

Was he serious about quitting? Did they finally push him over the edge with their latest failure? No, no of course not. This was just a rough patch. He needs the weekend off, then he'll be back in the game.

Right?

"Pardon me young masters."

They turned to look at Jeeves. "Yes?"

"Seeing as the interviews start in five minutes and your father has yet to come down, would you like me to notify you when he is awake?"

They stared at their watches: 7:55. Time to interview and possibly villains who think they can take down the Kids Next Door.

Each of them picked up a glass of orange juice, chugged it, and slammed it back on the table.

"No," they said.

Then they stood up and walked out of the room.

Bruce, the blonde boy in front of the bunch, pulled the microphone on the podium toward them.

"Enter," they commanded.

They gazed down from their perch to see Soccer Mom waltz in. Her pitch to end the Kids Next Door involved trapping agents in flying mini-vans that would bring them to a floating soccer field in the sky, where they'd endlessly work on field goals.

"Next," they said. Bruce pushed the red button next to the microphone, and Soccer Mom was shot up by a spring load platform, out a retractable panel on the ceiling, left to land somewhere outside.

After that, Night Brace, explaining that he would replace all the candy in the world with his patent pending toothpaste squishers. The K.N.D's agents energy levels would plummet so low, they'd be easy to destroy.

"Next," they said, and he was launched out of the room as well.

Then came Gramma Stuffum.

"Next."

Then Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb.

"Next!"

The Common Cold.

"NEXT!"

The Toiletnator.

"AUUUUUUUGGGGHHH!"

As soon as he exited through the ceiling panel, Bruce grabbed the microphone and held it close to their mouths.

"Attention applicants! We will no longer tolerate any half-baked schemes, gimmicky plans, or idiotic ideas of any sort! Unless your 100% you can take down the Kids Next Door, don't take a single step through that door! If you do, you'll wish you were locked up in one of their detainment centers! UNDERSTAND!?"

They slammed the microphone back down and breathed heavily. Immediately, they heard the sound of footsteps in the other room.

_Hopefully that means the losers of the bunch are leaving_, they thought.

When they could no longer hear shuffling, they cleared their throats, leaned toward the microphone, and calmly said, "Next."

The man who entered the room was no costume freak like the others. His brown dress shoes clacked gently against the floor. His forest green button-up was tucked neatly into his khakis, which was held in place by a brown belt. The black hair on his head was cut so short you could see his scalp. His eyes focused only upon the children who towered above him.

They couldn't help but smile a bit at this applicants professionalism and demeanor. Though, they couldn't tell whether he tightened his grip on his suitcase out of nerves or determination.

"As this is your first time applying, could you state your name for the record?" they asked.

"You may call me The Consultant." he responded.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mr. Father? Mr. Father?... Mr. Father, sir?"

"Hnnh, hnnh, wassat?" Father opened his eyes and immediately grasped the wrist of the man that was shaking his shoulder.

"Word of advice," Father said, annoyed, "You really shouldn't wake me up by touching me. You're lucky not to be a pile of ash."

"I'm sure," the man responded, nonchanlantly, wrenching his wrist away. "By the way, you have a bit of drool..." He tapped his chin.

Father wiped it away on his sleeve. "Who are you any way?

"I'm The Consultant," he answered, extending his hand out. "Your children hired me to help them and yourself wipe the Kids Next Door off the face of the earth... and moon... and any other celestial bodies they operate on, sir."

He professionally shook this new hire's hand. "Pleasure to meet you Consultant, and please call me Father." The two quit shaking and put their hands back at their sides.

Father stood up and made his way toward the door as he did last night. "You're very free to try and take down the KND, and I truly hope you do." He reached the door and opened it, gesturing politely to the staircase across the hall. The Consultant made his way toward him.

"However, my children do not speak for me. They hired you, so commit whatever actions you deem necessary in your mission in their name only. Not mine," he commanded.

The Consultant finally made it to the door, but did not walk through.

"That may prove to be a problem, Father."

"And why might that be?" Father inquired, starting to heat up a little.

The Consultant, unphased held up his left wrist, displaying a sliver wrist watch, and tapped it with his other hand.

A blue spherical hologram projected itself a foot in the air, showing The Delightful Children in the Really-Really Destructive Machine smashing a part of an elaborate tree house with some K.N.D. operatives in a claw.

"Hold on a second." Father took a step closer to the video. "That's not Sector V."

"Correct," The Consultant replied. "This is Sector V, located in Guatemala. As I understand it, they only landed 15 minutes ago, and it seems they've already made remarkable progress. You've trained them excellently.

Father ignored the compliment and stared at him in a way that screamed get to the point.

"Anyway, I asked them to attack this Sector since its defenses haven't been calibrated for the Really-Really Destructive Machine like Sector V's has. Also, we had both decided that after this is done, they would create a video message and send it to the K.N.D. saying you, Father, ordered the attack yourself."

"WHAT?"

Father's fire exploded off him, knocking The Consultant back a couple of feet.

"You have the audacity to involve ME in a scheme without MY explicit permission!?"

"You're children thought you needed a push, he explained, bracing himself for more fire. "I just made a recommendation based on their concern."

The fire died down slightly as Father took a deep breath. It then concentrated itself around his right fist.

He grabbed The Consultant by his shirt collar.

"Come on."

Fire shot out of his fist toward the ground, propelling him and his passenger into the air.

As he broke through the sky light, he said, "We're gonna go have a talk with my kids."


	4. Chapter 4

Still within the Really-Really Destructive Machine, The Delightful Children took a step back to admire their handy work. The only thing remaining on Sector W's tree was bark. Broken boards, crooked nails, and duct tape littered the ground; one couldn't even tell that these pieces of debris once made up a mighty fortress against adult tyranny.

Upon thinking further, they decided to buzz-saw off the branches as well. The trunk, they sadly realized, would have to remain, as their equipment wasn't large enough to handle its size. Nonetheless they cackled joyfully as they reduced the limbs to firewood, until they heard a distinctive shout from behind them. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Turning around, with dread, they saw Father floating in the air with the Consultant in hand. The Consultant's face was wet with tears forced out by the g-force he endured on his fly over.

"Father, we were just-"

"GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW!"

"Yes sir!"

Quickly, they powered down the machine. The legs bent to the ground and the pod opened. Father lowered himself down slowly to the ground and threw the Consultant to the side.

"First off, I did not give you permission to use the Really-Really Destructive Machine. Second, you just destroyed a KND treehouse entirely for the second time; not to mention you've attacked an entirely different sector. Do you really think that the KND higher ups won't come after you with everything they've got? Third, and most importantly, you-my children-your Father. Do you see anything wrong with that picture?!"

The Children, though downcast throughout the entire tirade, raised their eyebrow at that last point.

"Father, what do you mean made a decision on your behalf?" they asked as they stepped out.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me. The Consultant told me that you were going to send a video to the KND after your fun was done, claiming I ordered the attack."

"Father, it's true we hired the Consultant partly to help you but telling the KND you ordered the attack was never part of the mission, much less sending a video message."

Father bent his knees and looked them in the eye. "Are you telling the truth? Because I don't have very good reasons to believe you right now."

"They're telling the truth sir," said the Consultant as he finishes dusting himself off from being tossed down.

They turned towards him as Father said, "What's going on here? I don't want any more surprises."

"As you desire. You see, as a part of the reason I was hired was to help you, I figured getting you down here to see the end of a successful mission could be the kick in the pants you needed. At first, I thought I would invite you directly here, but seeing you dismiss me so outright, I needed a different angle to work with, so I made up the video message on the spot."

"Oh, clever, real clever," Father said sarcastically and frustrated as his flames finally dissipated. "You really think you got it all figured out, but what about the-"

"If you're referring to the second item in your tirade, I shall assuage it with the following. First, I had advised the children to target the room where the central power system was located, so no distress signal, automatic or otherwise would reach KND HQ. Children, did you do so?"

"Uh, yes sir," they responded.

"Very good. Secondly…" he turned to look at his watch. "Three, two, one, zero."

Precisely when he said zero, a Tasty Taste Ice Cream Truck rolled onto the scene. Two ice cream men exited.

The one out of the driver side was an elite ice cream man with a huge muscles and a large black beard to match. Tattoos of halves of a frozen heart were on each of his wrists. The left wrist had an inscription that read "cold and the other "hearted" 'cold hearted'. The one out of the passenger side was a lower-rank ice cream man with blonde hair that was buzzed down to the shortest it would go without disappearing completely.

The elite approached the Consultant with the other in tow behind him. "Mission accomplished sir," he said gruffly. "Cargo is safely stored in back, wrapped up tight and ready for export wherever you desire."

"You've done excellently, Captain Grant; you and your battalion" said the Consultant. "Would you please show us the cargo?"

"Yes sir."

The two Ice Cream Men approached the back doors of the ice-cream truck with the Consultant, Father, and the Delightful Children in following behind. With Captain Grant on the right and the other on the left, they opened the door, revealing five Kids Next Door agents out cold and stuck within 5 different large cartons of ice cream.

"Tell me, what flavors Private Xavier?" inquired the Consultant to the other ice cream man as the Children looked on in surprise and Father in vague interest.

"All are broccoli of course, sir. They won't dare eat their way out should they wake up," responded Private Xavier.

"Good, good," he said as he turned back around. "All five agents of Sector W were scheduled to be kidnapped this morning, even before I was hired-thank goodness I was, or I this all would be for nothing. They won't be able to inform the KND of what's happened anytime soon. It's up to you and/or your Children where they should be held or what should be done with them."

Well, they still took the Really Really Destructive Machine without asking," Father retorted.

"That they did. That they did. But what is one wrong in the face of such triumph?"

Father turned to his children, who smiled pleadingly at him with the eyes of puppies.

"Fine, fine, you're not in trouble," he said.

"Thank you, Father," they sighed, relieved.

"It seems you're doing mighty fine work Consultant."

"And this is just the beginning. You've seen what I can do. If you come aboard, we can work together as a group to figure out our next step. I came up with this, but I'll admit, I'm more-or-less a newbie in the field of villainy. While you children were wonderful in helping to form this plan," he said looking toward them with a smile of joy, before turning back to Father, "Having an old pro would to guide this operation would be a great help."

The Consultant extended out his hand towards Father and there was a moment of silence. Father then turned around and responded, "I said I needed some time off and I meant it."

Fire in both his fists flicked on. "I'll give you full financial backing to fund whatever my children and you need in your little escapade, but I'll have no part in it otherwise."

And flew he flew off.


	5. Chapter 5

After instructing the Ice Cream Men to have the kidnapped agents be placed in a different truck each day so that they may remain on the move, but never be on the same route as the day before, they had invited the Consultant into the machine and said they would discuss next steps over dinner. He agreed.

The ride back was silent. The Consultant had expected the children to show some sign of disappointment or anger that they're Father refused to join in their escapade. Yet, their faces showed intense focus rather than any frustration.

He wondered if they couldn't feel negative emotions toward their guardian due to the delightfulization process, or if they were attempting to distract themselves by focusing on the task at hand.

Though the Really-Really Destructive Machine is fast, it's no match for Father's flames. They arrived in the dining room just as the sun was setting.

Jeeves, who had just entered the dining area with a dirty plate in hand from Father's dinner, asked the young masters "Would you like me to prepare dinner for you and your guest?"

"Yes please, Jeeves," the Delightful Children replied as they took their usual seats at the end of the table.

"In the mood for anything in particular?"

They turned towards the Consultant, who had just procured an extra chair from the corner of the room and had sat in it adjacent to them. "What would you like to have Mr. Consultant?"

"I have no preference."

They turned back towards Jeeves. "Surprise us."

"Yes, young masters." Jeeves then exited.

"We've been thinking," they said to the Consultant. "Though the Kids Next Door won't notice Sector W missing at first. They will eventually, and they'll start investigating anyone who would have the capability of decimating an entire treehouse. Father and us will be on that list.

"The higher ups will likely send Sector V to investigate us, and they will at least enter our home in an aggressive manner, or worse, they may simply charge us without an investigation and come into arrest us and/or Father. We would like you to hire the battalion you enlisted for Sector V's kidnapping as well as a second of your choosing for keeping our grounds secure. Also, hire a squad of Teen Ninjas to patrol the air. We assume you are also able to procure excellent help from that group as you did with the Ice Cream Men."

The Consultant was slightly surprised. He was going to suggest something incredibly similar to what they've just said. What they came up with was equal to if not better than what he had in mind. Yet, he acknowledged that these children had been at war with the K.N.D. for a very long time, and though unsuccessful, they were one of the most consistent. Failure had taught them a great deal.

He took out his laptop from his briefcase and began typing. "I'll send off an email right away. I've already got the perfect people in mind and they should arrive here by morning."

"Excellent," they responded.

He finished typing and shut his laptop. "I'm impressed with your idea for security detail. Very well done," he said, smiling.

"Thank you, sir," they said, but did not return his smile.

His smile faded. "So, do you have any ideas for your next steps?"

"To be honest sir, we haven't gotten very far on that front. We do believe that once the Kids Next Door take note of the missing sector, it could be a good distraction for us to make a bigger move, but we're unsure what that may be. Do you have-"

"Actually I-I, do," he interrupted, excitedly. "Sorry for interrupting. But I believe our next target should be the Artic Base."

The Delightful Children scratched their chins. "An interesting proposal. It would certainly cause even more panic among the organization with various criminals being freed. But, is more panic what we really need? Would it not be better to destroy or steal weaponry from one of their armories? Or perhaps eliminate one of their databases?"

"That's not a bad way to go, but I don't believe you understand. I'm not arguing that we simply free the criminals from the base. I'm arguing we also take this opportunity to recruit other villains to help us in our endeavor. While the people I hire are good, we need more heavy hitters on our side if we want to do some real damage. Also, if we do not destroy, but take over the Artic base, we'll have something much more fortified than the mansion, and a place to hold prisoners if need be."

"Hmm… a fair point. We do need more resources than just money in this war… We'll obviously need to discuss strategy beforehand, but the Artic Prison sounds like a good next step."

"Wonderful," he responded.

Then Jeeves came in with dinner. The plates he served had baked tilapia with a lemon-based sauce, green beans, and carrots. It was a meal fit for mature children, as the young masters were.

"Bon Appetit," he said after putting down the last plate, and he left.

They began eating their meals. Not a word was said for a few minutes. Perhaps, after a day of hard work, all of them needed a brief reprieve from thinking about strategies.

The Consultant was the first to break the silence. "The best time for us to strike the base will likely be just after the K.N.D. find out about the missing sector. Which means, should the K.N.D. come here to investigate or arrest you, you all not being here could raise suspicion."

"True," they responded. "How do you suggest we deal with that?"

"As hard as it maybe…" he hesitated for a moment. "I believe that you may need to ask Father to cover for you while you're away on your mission?"

The Delightful Children stopped chewing the food that was in their mouths and swallowed. They set down their forks and knives and said, "Father has made it clear that he doesn't want to be part of our war. Us asking him would only make him angry."

"He did give us full financial backing though, and this wouldn't be total involvement, so perhaps he could be persuaded to do this one small thing for you."

They turned away from him, "That's not true."

"It's the only thing I can think of."

"Then think harder!" they shouted, banging the table, causing the Consultant to jump.

There was a moment of silence before the Delightful Children recomposed themselves. Their looks of anger transformed into looks of shame and they looked to the floor. "We're sorry. We don't know what came over us."

"It's fine," he said tapping his finger, trying to find the right words. "I don't know what's going on between you all and Father in its entirety. I only know what you've told me and what I've seen, and what I've seen is a hint that he's still willing to help in some form. I think it's worth asking."

"…Very well," they pushed their seats back away from the table, stood up, and walked towards the kitchen.

Poking their head in, they saw Jeeves cleaning the dishes.

"Jeeves?"

"Yes, young masters?"

"Would you please prepare a creme brulee for Father?"

"Certainly, tell him it'll be up in less than half an hour."

"Actually, this is a surprise for Father, and we'll be the ones delivering it."

* * *

**Hello everyone. I know that I've had an erratic uploading schedule, but that's only because I began doing this fanfiction on a whim without a real sense of direction.**

**Now I've been able to come up with the over all plot and have nearly written all the remaining chapters. After I finish writing and editing, I shall post a chapter a day until the story is complete. I cannot say for sure when to expect this, but it will hopefully be by or before this time next month.**

**Thank you for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

Balancing the cloche covered crème brulee on the palm of David's hand, the Delightful Children approached the door to Father's study. They took a breath, then Bruce knocked.

"Yes?" Father asked.

"Father, we've brought you some crème brulee."

"Really? Well, I got a little room left after dinner. Come in," he replied.

David opened the door and they entered. Father was once more facing the fireplace, though, unlike the usual large licks of flame that danced silhouetting himself and his chair, it was only a modest fire, the size of which any suburban household could easily manage.

They approached him as he turned around in his chair and upon reaching him, David uncovered the crème brulee and handed passed it to Father.

He observed the dish. "Untorched… just how I like it to be served." Making a finger gun with his right had a bright red flame resembling a blowtorch came out and he began cooking the dish.

"So… uh, how are your plans with the Consultant coming along?" he asked, awkwardly.

"They're going well Father," the responded. "It seems our next target will be the Artic Base."

"Wow, the Artic Base… I remember invading that place once before. You got your work cut out for you… but I'm sure you'll all do great."

"Thank you, Father."

The conversation paused for a moment, until Father's crème brulee was properly browned. "So, what do you all want?"

"Sir?"

"You didn't come in here just to give me dessert and an update, you're here to ask me for something. So, what is it?"

"Well, Father. As you're no doubt aware, when the Kids Next Door inevitably find out that a sector has gone missing, they'll begin searching for the perpetrators. You, as well as us, will be among their lists of suspects. In order for us to take over the Artic Base, we'll need to leave as soon as we hear the Kids Next Door know about what we did. Therefore Father, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind covering for us should the Kids Next Door come by? Of course, if the agents prove to unreasonable as they usually do, The Consultant has hired new security for the manor to deal with them if need be."

"Did you not hear what I said to the Consultant earlier today?"

"…We did, but it's not as though you'll be directly involved."

Father sighed heavily and scooped a piece of crème brulee into his mouth. "Fine," he said as he turned back toward the fireplace. I'll do it. I'll even bribe some people to lie about where you've been most of the Summer. They won't know a thing."

"Thank you, Father. We really-"

"I only ask in turn that you make no further requests to help out, directly or indirectly. If I want in, I'll say so."

"…Of course, Father."

"Good, then if that's all. I'd like to be left alone. Have a good night."

They turned and walked towards the door, slightly relieved, but were also reliving a bit of their disappointment from last night.

"Children," Father said as they reached the door.

Their hearts leapt, though on the outside their calm manner remained the same. "Yes Father?"

"Thanks for the crème brulee."

And they sank back down.

"You're welcome, Father," they said as they closed the door behind them.


	7. Chapter 7

It was less than a week when the Delightful Children had left along with the Consultant for the Artic Base.

Father was left alone in the manor, reading a book when, inevitably, he heard an explosion, followed by alarms.

With a sigh he set his book down on his armrest and turned his chair away from the fireplace as a flat screen lowered from the ceiling. The screen flashed to life, and as expected, the agents of Sector V had broken into his place and were in the process of combating his new security.

He observed the fight for about a minute, wondering how long the Ice Cream Men and Teen Ninjas would withstand hand to hand combat with the usual thorns in his side. Yet, he found that instead of the agents making quick work of the goons, they were holding their own against the agents.

He saw as Numbuh 2 leveled his weapon at an Ice Cream Men's head and a Teen Ninja took the opportunity to fly by and smack him in the back of the head, causing his aim to be just a foot away from its target.

Numbuh 4 and 5 were caught in combat with a couple of Ice Cream Men, but as the agents attempted to punch and kick their opponents, each movement was either blocked or a dodged.

By no means were the security winning, but they weren't losing either. It was a sort of stalemate.

But he had let them duke it out long enough. The flat screen rotated his direction as he walked over to his desk and took a seat behind it. He grabbed a microphone, clicked it on, and said, "Guards, you can stand down."

He looked to the screen to find that the fighting had stopped on both sides, though arms were still raised and weaponry aimed.

"Listen up brats. If you agree to be escorted by two guards to my study, I'll meet with you peacefully. You're on camera right now. Nod if you understand and sheath your weapons."

The agents made eye contact at each other, followed by Numbuh 1 uttering a command to his team. He nodded his head, and he, followed by his teammates, sheathed their weapons. They got into a V formation with Numbuh 1 at the front, and two Ice Cream Men took position one in the front and the other in the back.

Father saw them marching off as the screen raised back up.

A minute later the doors opened to the study, and in walked Sector V. The two guards who had escorted them took position on both sides of the door as the agents approached Father's desk.

"So, Numbuh 1 and his pals decided to pay me a visit. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he said sarcastically.

"Sector W's treehouse has been destroyed and their agents have gone missing," said Numbuh 1. "You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

"Me? I haven't left my house in the past couple of weeks," Father replied.

"If that's the case, then why is there a hole where your skylight used to be?" said Numbuh 5 as she pointed to the hole with broken glass at the edges.

"It may come as a shock to you, but I have a fiery temper. Is it any surprise that one of my outbursts would result in some property damage?"

"And the new security?" she inquired.

"With as many times as you all come into my house uninvited, I figured shelling out a few bucks for some extra protection wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Be that as it may, do you have any proof that you haven't left the house in the past two weeks?" asked Numbuh 1.

"My staff at the mansion can confirm this; I can call up Jeeves if it would put you all at ease."

"That won't be necessary," he said as he put his hand up. "What about your Delightful Children? We know they've left the house in the past two weeks."

"Yeah, we whooped their prim and proper tushes last week," bragged Numbuh 4.

"And it wouldn't be the first time they've destroyed a treehouse. Where are they? We need to question them," said Numbuh 1.

"Right now, they're probably at the library. Since school's out they wanted to take part in the reading program. They actually began the program the day after their last battle with you."

"We'll check in with the librarians later to verify this alibi."

"And I welcome you to. Now, if there's nothing else, I will thank you kindly to leave my property." Father raised his hand and performed a come here motion. The guards next to the door approached the kids.

There was a moment of silent before the kids turned to leave, but just as they reached the door, Numbuh 1 stopped in his tracks and the rest of the agents followed his lead once more.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk to you privately."

Father exhaled through his nostrils, annoyed.

"So be it." He waved away the guards and the rest of the kids and they exited, closing the doors behind them.

Numbuh 1 approached the desk once more and took a breath. "Has it really been two months since the incident with Grandfather?"

"I suppose it has," Father responded.

"Everything either of us have ever worked for came into question."

"Well, who knew pappy would go power crazy."

"Like Father, like son I suppose."

"…Yes, I suppose."

"So, tell me, Uncle" Numbuh 1 continued. "Do you ever think about it?"

"About what?"

"When your brother grabbed the book and you walked away?"

Father tensed up. It was only a matter of time before Numbuh 1 would bring the fact that they share blood. Though, he had pictured it be during some intense battle, where he had his nephew on the ropes and he would beg for mercy because they're family, not during some an interrogation.

"Can't say I do," Father said.

"Odd, I don't think I could forget a moment where I refused to become a KND operative. I would be kicking myself until my grave for passing up such an opportunity."

Father felt himself beginning to heat up.

"I wonder if you became an enemy of the KND out of jealousy?" Numbuh 1 continued. "I wonder if you brainwashed Sector Z so you could both vicariously live out your secret dream of being a KND operative, while continuing your petty rivalry against us."

He put his hands below the desk and channeled the heat to create small flames at the tips of his fingers. He could hold out just a little bit longer.

"No, no, no. We were wrong for coming here in the first place. You haven't even made a move since your last. Your kidnapped kin have always failed in all their endeavors to thwart us. You all don't have the skill to pull this off."

Maybe he couldn't. All he wanted to do at this point was to do was burn this kid to a crisp. The fire began to grow from his fingertips up his arms, but he stopped it just before getting to his elbows. _He's just baiting me, that's all this is. I just need to give him something to chew on and he'll leave._

Father sighed heavily. "You're right."

Numbuh 1's mouth dropped. He lowered his sunglasses. "I'm sorry?"

"When your Father and I went up against Grandfather this time around, he stood his ground, I went back into the house just like last time.

"Once a coward, always a coward.

"My children, yes they are former operatives, and that makes them incredibly skilled. But, when they're parents didn't come for them, I was left to raise them. And a coward can only raise so many things. In this case, I raised failures.

"No, nephew, my children or I couldn't have pulled this off at all. If we did, you would've found evidence and dragged us out already."

"Now if you don't have anything else you'd like to discuss. I'd like you to get out of my house," said Father as he pointed to the door.

Numbuh 1 wordlessly put his glasses back in place and closed his mouth. He walked toward the doors, taking one more look at Father before he left. It wasn't a look of smugness or spite, but one of pity mixed with a bit of suspicion. He closed the door gently behind him.

Father then returned to his chair by the fire and continued reading.


	8. Chapter 8

It took a few hours for the freight ship to arrive at the artic circle. The door opened, landing with a thud on the ice and now. The Delightful Children put up the hoods of their white parkas, revved their engine, and began to make the rest of the way to the Artic Base on a custom snow mobile. Following behind them were 10 elite Ice Cream Men, 100 standard Ice Cream Men, and 100 Teen Ninjas each on their own snow mobiles.

If they didn't stop to rest, begin their assault in less than 2 hours. That gave them time go over the strategy again and again within their minds, thinking through any possible obstacle, fault, or eventuality they haven't considered yet, but they could think of none. They had been fine tuning their attack strategy with the Consultant day and night.

It was fool proof.

They timed their arrival perfectly. They and their armed forces arrived not a mile away from the base before halting their vehicles.

Bruce held up his hand and pressed a finger against the device he had in his ear.

"Mr. Consultant," the Delightful Children said. "What's the status on hacking the Artic Base's computer?"

"I've been trying all the different combinations I can think of," the Consultant said on the other end. "I've either overestimated my abilities or severely underestimated the KND's programmers."

"Should we wait before beginning our assault, or do you believe this is a dead end?"

"We need to strike while the iron is hot. Move to plan B."

"Understood." Bruce took his hand away from his ear, the Delightful Children turned towards their army.

"We need two volunteers from the Teen Ninjas," they said loudly.

Not a second after, two Teen Ninjas, one brunette male and one blonde female flew off their snow mobiles and landed in front of the Delightful Children.

"The rest of you can continue to your positions. Remember, wait for our say so before breaching."

The rest of the forces dismounted their snow mobiles. The Ice Cream Men marched forward while the other Teen Ninjas flew farther ahead.

"What are your orders?" the female inquired.

The Delightful Children took out a blueprint from their snowmobile and David, the tallest of the bunch, unfurled it before the teens, revealing it to be a schematic for the facility.

"There's been a slight change in plans. Do you see this small room located here?" they said as Lenny pointed to a small room in the upper right of the facility.

"Yes dudes," the teens responded in unison.

"In there you'll find the station's main power source. Lucky for us there's a ventilation shaft atop the building. If you head straight down and hang a right, you'll reach the room in no time. Upon reaching it, use your weaponry to smash the power source into smithereens. After that, the assault will begin, so rejoin your teen allies as soon as possible. Remember, if you get lost in the vents for whatever reason, just listen for the sound of whirring and it you'll get there. Do you understand?'

"Yes dudes," they repeated.

"Good luck," they said as David rolled the blueprint back up.

The teens flew off and after placing the blueprint back in the snowmobile, the Delightful Children ran off to catch up with the Ice Cream Men to take their positions at the front lines.

The front door of the Artic facility was not 1000 feet away from them. The Delightful Children reached into their coat and took out small purple laser pistols.

Bruce put his finger back up to his ear. "Teen Commander are you in position?"

"Yes, Delightful dudes. We're next to the rear entrance, ready to go," the Commander responded.

"Excellent, the signal to go is when you see the light above the back door go out. Be ready." Bruce took his finger away from his ear, and the Delightful Children all squinted at the light that lit up the front door.

_Any second now_ they thought.

It began to flicker.

_Come on._

Then it went out.

"NOW!" they screamed at the top of their lungs.

They along with the Ice Cream Men ran toward iron door, screaming their battle cries and determination painted on their faces.

When they got within 500 feet of the door, the Delightful Children shouted, "LAUNCH, THE ICE-FREEZE!"

Two of the Ice Cream Men behind them launched a pair of devices that looked like a blue grenade stuffed in an ice cream cone. They landed on the door with a mighty thud and beginning from the points they landed, the gate froze over.

As soon as the last bit of the door was frozen, the Delightful Children blasted the door simultaneously with their laser pistols, and the mighty metal shattered. The army ran and themselves were able to run right through the door.

It was not a second after they entered when KND operatives wearing their makeshift armor arrived with a variety of weapons.

There was no hesitation on either side as they clashed. The pain filled grunts and shouts of adults and children filled the facility.

Unlike the rest of the army, the Delightful Children weren't attacking one opponent after the other, but were decisively making their way to a large metal door at the end of the hallway, stunning any agent that dares to try and stop them with their pistols.

"ELITES! WITH US!"

The Elite Ice Cream Men either fled their respective opponents or made short work of them and caught up quickly with the Delightful Children.

As they neared the door, they fired a few more shots from their pistols and the door flew open, and in they went in followed by the Elites.

Inside, some armored, but weaponless children stood about some powerless monitors. In a panic, half dropped to the floor with their hands up, the other half tried to make it to the one of the other exits but were quickly restrained by the Elites.

"Now, who's in charge here?" the Delightful Children inquired, with their usual smug smiles and polite cadence.

A red-headed boy who was part of the half how fell to his knees squeaked "Th-That would b-b-be m-me."

They approached the child. "If you're cooperative, we won't get violent. Is that clear?"

"C-crystal."

"Good. We assume that although the main power source is fried, an emergency power source is keeping this room's equipment operational, correct?

The child nodded.

"So, first things first, where's the PA system?"

The child pointed a shaky finger over towards a control panel with a microphone sticking out.

"Secondly, where are the controls for unlocking and locking the cells?"

"I-I can't tell you that! I wo-"

He was interrupted by Bruce's laser pistol being shoved into his mouth.

"If a laser pistol is enough to stun one of you operatives from the outside, what could it do to your insides? Should we find out?"

Bruce took his pistol back out of the kids mouth.

"It's a simple computer command. Right next to the PA system, there's a console. Just type /release followed by a cell number."

"Now was that so hard?"

They approached the PA system. Fortunately, it was the exact same model they had back at their home. Bruce pressed the button.

"Attention fellow nemeses of the Kids Next Door. No doubt you all want out of your cell to join the Teen Ninjas and the Ice Cream Men in their brawl against the KND. We only ask this small favor of you, after taking down a KND operative, put them into your former cells. After all, misbehaved children must be put in time out. Have fun."

They turned their attention to the monitor and typed, "/release all," and pressed enter.


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn't even minutes as they stood in the control room, before they heard the sound of battle die down and replaced with the sounds of adults and teens celebrating.

After ordering the elite Ice Cream Men to take their captives in the control room to any open cell, the Delightful Children turned on the intercom once more.

"Sounds as though this prison break was a rousing success. Well done everyone. We know many of you liberated prisoners would like nothing more than to leave this facility behind and continue celebrating elsewhere. We won't stop you if you desire to do so.

"Yet, it would be ashamed for any of you to miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime. If you care to hear us out, please make your way to the mess hall. As for our armada, once more, thank you for your service. Please, make your way to your assigned stations."

They walked out of the control room with smiles plastered on their faces. Bruce once more tapped his earpiece. "Mission was a complete success."

"Wonderful work! I'm set up for the consultations," the Consultant said.

"Excellent. You should be receiving your first call in the next fifteen minutes."

"Also, could you send me a catalog of the Teen Ninjas and Ice Cream Men that were freed? I won't be able to work with them in the same manner as the others, but if they were imprisoned, they were likely a great nuisance to the KND and worth having on our list of contacts."

"We'll have someone put together a list."

"Good."

He let go of the earpiece and they exited out the door across from the one that they entered through and gazed at the downtrodden, helpless, and, in some cases, unconscious agents, sat about in their cages. They heard a few shouts of protest, but Teen Ninjas and Ice Cream Men now patrolling the prison halls banged on their cages demanding they keep quiet, and the shouts died down.

Eventually, they reached the doors to the mess hall and opened them. They were happy to see that not a seat was available in the entire place.

They looked across the room and as requested, the Elites and the commander of the Teen Ninjas were standing a few feet away from a microphone attached to the loud speaker and looking at the other doors to the mess hall, pairs of both Ice Cream Men and Teen Ninjas stood on each side.

They strode upfront without any of the former prisoners taking notice and grabbed the microphone.

"Could we have your attention please?" they began.

The chatter continued.

"Please settle down."

It didn't stop.

"QUIET!"

And all at once, it ceased.

"Thank you. You may have heard some worried murmuring from some of the former prison staff earlier today that an entire sector had disappeared into thin air. You may have heard some talk about the frantic search that's begun in order to locate the five agents.

"What you couldn't have heard were the identities of these perpetrators who did the impossible. We'll let you in on a little secret. It was us."

"It may seem impossible to some of you, but Father will be more than happy to assure you that it was our doing," they said, lying only about Father's emotional state. "We've deemed it necessary to step up our battle against the Kids Next Door. In the past, our biggest concern was the elimination of Sector V. Today, we're interested in the total annihilation of their agency!

"But it's pointless to do so without more help. The armada that worked with us today is truly a force to be reckoned with, but we know that against a power this large, we'll need more allies.

"You'll all have a part to play, but we need to talk to a few specific people at this time. Mr. Boss, Stickybeard, Count Spankulot, Crazy Old Cat Lady, and Mr. Fizz, would you kindly head out of the room and towards the Warden's office? We'll be with you shortly."

The villains mentioned slowly stood up, with the last to raise their head being Mr. Boss and exited the room.

"As for the rest of you, we need for you all to do what you already do best create chaos and mayhem; be a general nuisance to the Kids Next Door. Some of you are rightly wondering 'I was going to do that anyways, why invite me in here in the first place?'

"One by one, you'll be escorted to a secure telecommunication device and speak with a man named the Consultant. He will workshop your prospective schemes into perfection and provide you with financial backing from Father's own personal account."

"In the meantime, some Teen Ninjas have come across a cellar with that wonderful beverage, soda. It'll be served to you as you wait. Thank you all for your time, good luck."

They set down their microphone as a few of the villains clapped and cheered, and they began making their way towards the Warden's office.

They entered and were relieved that the room comfortably accommodated all ten of them.

Mr. Boss sat behind the desk in the former Warden's chair, perusing over some documents that had been left on the desk. He muttered under his breath numerous critiques about its formatting.

Stickybeard sat on the couch, licking one of the hairy lollipops freshly plucked from his beard, a cushions length away from Cat Lady who was busy grooming herself as a cat does.

Count Spankulot sat in a chair, fiddling with his medallion, while Mr. Fizz stood off in the corner tapping his foot and looking at his watch.

"Glad you all decided to come," the Delightful Children said as they walked to the center of the room.

"Yes, I'm sure everyone is as thrilled as I am to still be in this miserable building," said Mr. Boss as he straightened the papers and sat themselves back down on the desk. "Now, if you could make it quick. I do have a company to run back in a much warmer climate."

"Of course," they said. "You all have been selected out of the bunch in that room, because we need your specific skills for our next attack."

"And that would be?" asked Mr. Fizz.

"The Moon Base."

Everyone froze stiff for five seconds and it was followed by outbursts from all parties.

"Please. Please calm down."

"Are you nuts!? I hate the KND just as much as the next guy, but an attack on the most iconic, most protected headquarters in their entire agency? That's suicide!" said Mr. Boss.

"Yar, me and me buckos launched an attack out there two months ago. It wasn't even to take down the base, just was a distraction to get that box for Father. Me fleet still barely made it out alive," said Stickybeard.

"The rest of us had infiltrated the moonbase to be in those wax sculptures, and even that was almost a failure," said Count Spankulot.

"What makes you young'uns think you can take down anyways?" asked Cat Lady.

"Because, we're the same 'young'uns' who just took over the Artic base and set you all free. Father couldn't even manage to keep his grip on this place when he came here," retorted the Delightful Children.

"Yes, yes, and we'll all grant you that is very impressive, but comparing this base to the Moon Base is like comparing crushing an ant to crushing a rhino," Mr. Fizz replied.

"All you need to crush a Rhino is three things: resources, time, and a plan, and we have one. Mr. Boss," they said as they turned towards the scowling mustached man. "You're a man who thrives more in management than in the field of battle, we want to put you in charge of the Artic facility, updating its systems and turning it into a stronghold more powerful than Fort Knox and a prison more secure than Alcatraz. In addition, you would be aiding our mission to destroy the Moon Base by being ground control."

The scowl on his face morphed into a curious look as the Delightful Children turned and pointed at both Mr. Fizz and Count Spankulot.

"You two will be working together. Mr. Fizz, with your connections as an official, you can leverage your position to find any undercover or agents in hiding that could prove to be a nuisance to our plans. Count Spankulot, you'll be in charge of interrogating the agents he brings in to figure out any information you can about the Kids Next Door. Even if it's not necessarily about the Moon Base, it could help the other villains stir up further trouble. In addition you'll be joining us for the assault on the moon base leading an army either you or us have hired.  
"Crazy Old Cat Lady and Stickybeard, both of you have trained minions and one of you has the fleet we need to get up to the moon. You'll be working with us and The Consultant, an ally of ours, to increase the fleet's capability as well as preparing yourselves and your minions so you'll be unstoppable."

There was a pause, and every adult in there had a puzzled look.

"We know it may still sound far-fetched, but at least you see now we're not going into this blindly. We're going to continue alongside you all to workshop our strategy and wait until the appropriate time to strike. This isn't some childish dream, this is possible, probable, and plausible reality.

"How about this: work with us for a month. If at the end of that time, you want to walk away, you may, no strings attached. Does that sound fair?"

Even within the cool Artic base, beads of sweat were upon the brows of the Delightful Children's foreheads.

Stickybeard broke the silence with a hearty laugh. "Ah, what's a pirate's life if you're not gambling it? I'm in."

"Same here," said Cat Lady.

"Me too," said Count Spankulot.

"I'll take part as well," said Mr. Fizz.

The Delightful Children turned back to Mr. Boss.

"You know, for a bunch of kids, you do know how to drive a hard bargain. I'm in… for now."

The Delightful Children smiled and dabbed the sweat off their brows using their respective handkerchiefs.

"Excellent. Go and join the others in the mess hall for soda but tell them nothing about what we've said; loose lips sink ships."

And one by one they exited to what would be their last moment of relaxation in the coming weeks.


	10. Chapter 10

A moment of calm could hardly be found in the Delightful Manor over the next few weeks.

The Delightful Children were constantly on conference calls in the office with their allies to workshop strategy, receive and give updates, address concerns, and so on. In the brief moments between each call, they were either training their bodies through countless calisthenic exercises, reading up on a classic book on war strategy, or scarfing down a meal brought by Jeeves.

The Consultant could at times be found in the mansion taking calls from his many new clients, but most of the time, he would go out and visit them directly to check the specifications of their machines, minions, or whatever it may be. He would also make time to visit each member of the alliance at least twice a week, to check on progress and make recommendations where he could.

There was one point of relative ease during the day, and that was at dinner where the Consultant and the Delightful Children would meet downstairs to recite what had been done, what needed to be done, and to simply enjoy a delicious meal.

Father, however, had kept to himself even more so than before when the Delightful Children came back from the Artic Base. He briefly congratulated them gave them permission to use his office and sequestered himself in his room, only popping out every now and again to take a lap around the mansion.

Whenever the Consultant asked the Delightful Children what they thought of this behavior, they would respond with, "It's none of our concern," or, "Everything will go according to plan with or without Father," or, "Let's change the subject shall we?"

The Consultant could barely see it when they responded to his questions about Father, he was almost convinced he was fooling himself. These children were always very composed, rarely making any rash movement or changing their body language suddenly. Yet, he swore that in their eyes he could see anger, betrayal, resentment, but most of all, sorrow.

Father sat in a recliner, looking out the window at the morning sun. An empty coffee mug was in his right hand and a just-read newspaper laid to his right.

_It's been a couple of days, maybe I should stretch my legs before anyone gets up_, he thought as he finished his coffee.

Before he could decide, there was a knock at the door.

_Jeeves is getting good at timing when to take my dishes._

"Come on in," he said, and the door creaked open. He rotated his recliner to face Jeeves.

"I'm im- Oh, it's you," he said annoyed.

"Yes, it's me," the Consultant said as he closed the door and made his way toward the bed.

He sat down and the two men sat silently, studying each other for a few moments.

"Nervous?" said Father, noticing the Consultant shaking slightly despite the determined look on his face.

"Yes, I am."

"You should be. Now, I have a pretty good guess as to why you're here."

"Your guess is probably correct."

"In that case, the answer is still no. Now get out," Father said as he rotated his chair back toward the window.

The Consultant groaned. "Now you're truly acting like your enemies: childish."

Father remained silent.

"I understand that repeated failure is incredibly frustrating, before I became involved in this war, I was normal consultant and I experience frustration banging my head against walls that wouldn't break, but eventually they would. The KND will fall this time, so why not-"

Flames exploded from the chair. "STOP IT!"

The Consultant reflexively shielded his face and the determined expression gave way to fear. He soon felt the heat die back down and he opened his eyes to see Father standing over a pile of ash that was his recliner.

Father took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The only reason you're not six feet under right now is because my you're helping my children, but my patience is wearing _very _thin. Keep that in mind as I explain myself for the first and last time.

"I resolved as I've remained in here to quit permanently, I will not change my mind. Twenty years of my life is down the drain as I've failed time and time again. I refuse to dedicate twenty more years of my life to a lost cause.

"I still hate the Kids Next Door and I will always support my children's endeavors to destroy them. I may even leverage some of my fortune to help other villains but being the big bad on the front lines has drained me and all I want to do is rest.

"For your sake I hope your satisfied. Now _please _leave."

The Consultant took a deep breath and stood up. "It's interesting. I wasn't quite convinced but now I think I am."

"Glad we could come to an understanding," replied Father.

"Not about your desire to quit, but your relationship with your children. In the beginning, I was under the impression that this was a very one-sided relationship and a very… cut and dry one at that. You captured some agents, turned them into your minions, and that was the end of it.

"Yet, I've seen that these children look up to you, they see you as their hero, and want to make you proud."

"That's just the delightfulization process. Now I believe-"

"No, it's rare that brainwashing would alter emotion to this extent. A significant part of them cares for you, and after this conversation, I believe that you care for them as well."

"Are you a consultant or a counselor?" Father turned back towards the window. "Our relationship isn't like that, it's… complicated."

"Believe me, I know complicated," said the Consultant as he joined Father by the window.

"You have children that share a hive mind?"  
"No, but I do have a son that was a KND operative."

"Must've been rough raising him."

"On the contrary, he was always very amiable to me. Never lectured me on adult tyranny, the most he'd do is recount stories of battles he had with villains like yourself. I was quite proud of him.

"Then why go against him?"

"He turned 13. I'll never forget the night before that birthday, it was maybe the third time I've seen him cry since he was an infant. He left that morning and came back tomorrow afternoon officially decommissioned. He was depressed for the next couple of weeks, although he could remember anything that would make him feel that way.

"After that though, he was back in high spirits and I was so glad… until a month later when he didn't come home and I received a letter the next day saying he'd been arrested by the KND for his crimes as a teen ninja.

"… I can't even count how many letters I wrote pleading for them to release him to my custody, or at least let me see him, but they always sent form letters that all said I couldn't."

"…Taking the Artic Prison, that wasn't just a strategic move was it?"

"No, it wasn't."

"What's your kid's name?"

"Rodney."

"A nice name," Father took a deep breath. "Alright, one last hurrah. I'll join the raid on the moon base, but that's it." He then turned around and made his way toward the bedroom door.

"You coming?" he asked.

And the Consultant, content, followed him.


	11. Chapter 11

Father stood in the hold of one of Stickybeard's numerous ships, leaned against a wall he studied the commotion around him. To his left, he could see an elite Ice Cream Man, who he learned was named Captain Grant, lead some of the lower ranked men through combat drills.

On his right, a handful of Stickybeard's crew, both old and new were sorting through ammunition one last time and deciding if it's worth the effort to load up the cannons since this ship is three behind the lead.

Against his back, he could feel the new solid oak walls, a far cry from the rotting cedar that had torn through the suburbs before.

Despite the improvements, Father remained doubtful that anything remotely fruitful would come from this endeavor. He thought they'd make it far, farther than any of them had gone before, but they wouldn't finish.

Still, he volunteered his services and would fulfill his part of the deal, although his children didn't seem incredibly excited when he decided to help them two months ago.

He didn't expect them to cheer or anything of the sort, but a smile or a "We're happy your helping Father," would've been appreciated. Instead, it was an impersonal, "Excellent," followed by a cut and dry explanation of what his role would be.

At least his role was important.

_But still… _he thought.

On the lead ship of the fleet, the Delightful Children stood in the middle of the main deck looking at the Consultant, puzzled.

"Mr. Boss should be able to manage ground control fine by himself, but we're still confused. Why do you suddenly want to be on the front lines?" they inquired.

"Well, I didn't say front lines, I'm certainly not skilled enough to do that, but I have been practicing with one of the extra laser pistols in my off time, and I should be able to handle being part of the attack. As for why I want to be a part of the onslaught… can I just say it's personal and we leave it at that?"

The Delightful Children pondered over what he had said for a moment. "Very well," they responded. "You've done excellent work from the beginning and we have no reason to question your loyalty. You'd probably be most comfortable working with Mr. Fizz and his goons on ship four. Tell him we sent you and he'll give you a place."

"Thank you," the Consultant turned away from the Children and began walking away, but he paused after taking a couple of steps and looked over his shoulder. "I don't believe anything bad will happen to any of us up there, but just in case, it's been a pleasure working with you."

The Delightful Children thought about reciprocating the exact same sentiment, but it wasn't very delightful to be so sentimental in public. So, they offered a head nod and grunt of agreement and the Consultant headed on his way.

"Delightful Children," said the voice of Mr. Boss from their earpiece.

Bruce held a finger to the piece and held it down. "Talk to us."

"All systems have been checked and double-checked. Everything is good to go."

"Good," they said as they made their way to the bow of the ship. "Are you sure you don't want to back out now?"

"Don't get snide with me, I'm only here because your plan isn't terrible."

"That's high praise coming from you."

"You bet it is. Now, is everyone out there ready to launch."

"We're ready. Launch in two minutes."

"Sure thing."

The Delightful Children adjusted the setting on the earpiece and their voices were then heard on all the ships. "T-minus 2-minutes until take-off, get in position, remember the plan and good luck out there."

Bruce let go of the earpiece and they stared up at the sky before them. Months of planning had all lead to this moment. There would be no failure, no near success, only complete and total victory.

Then Mr. Boss' voice was heard on all ships. "Attention everyone, we're launching in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!"

* * *

**A Note from Your Author:**

**As some of you may be able to tell by this chapter, we're nearing the end. I understand that I said I would post daily until the story is finished, but these last few chapters need to be as good as it can be; I do not want to deliver a less than quality chapter just to keep up with a daily upload and finish the story on a less than satisfactory note.**

**Therefore, I must postpone uploads temporarily until these last few chapters are fine tuned and ready for consumption. I'm sorry if this disappoints some of you, but rest assured I will do my best to make the wait worth it.**


	12. Chapter 12

The pressure of the take-off pressed needles of air against everyone's body.

The Delightful Children half-regretted remaining on the bow of the ship, receiving a far larger force against their bodies, but their regret was soon forgotten as the thrusters of the ships slowed and they saw the moonbase in the distance.

It was perhaps three-times larger than the moonbase from a few months ago. From the outside. Numerous metallic structures jutted out of the red-glowing leaves seemingly without rhyme or reason. Though the trunk was sallow in color, it looked solid as a muscle, with the above ground roots gripping the surface of the moon like hands.

Stickybeard approached the children. "Shall we start?"

"You may."

Stickybeard put a finger in the air and began making a circular motion as he addressed his ship as well as the ones to his left and right. "Port to starboard lads! Soon as yer in position, fire at the designated spots!"

On his command, the three ships rotated, and jawbreakers began blasting from the cannons and landing at pre-determined spots in the base. Smoke rose from the structure with each hit, but a red-tinted bubble flickered on outside of the base and the jawbreakers began bouncing harmlessly off the surface.

Bruce put a finger up to their earpiece. "Start the cyberattack and give us an estimation for time," they said.

"The Consultant wasn't kidding about these kids' firewall, but with luck I'd say… five minutes," Mr. Boss replied.

A high-pitched noise was heard, and small holes began to open in the shield. Through these holes, ten KND ships began approaching the armada. Green lasers began firing from each of the enemy ships, shaking each of the vessels they landed upon.

"The hulls will hold fer a good long while, but the closer they get the more punch those beams'll pack!" said Stickybeard.

Bruce put his finger back to his earpiece. "Teen Ninja Platoon One, attack those ships. Main priority is to destroy the weapons on the ships, secondary is taking those aboard prisoners!" the Delightful Children ordered.

Immediately, fifty Teen Ninjas flew overhead of their vessel. Rockets flew from their wrists at the enemy's ships. They landed with a thud, but the enemies continued onward.

As they got closer, the Teen Ninjas concentrated their fire and a couple of the beams stopped, but one landed on the ship next to them and the sound of wood splintering could be heard.

"Reinforce that hull!" ordered Stickybeard.

"We need that shield down, NOW!" the Delightful Children demanded.

"Almost… got it!" Mr. Boss said.

The shield flickered and then vanished.

"Resume fire on the base! Teen Ninja Platoon 2 move in! Ships move forward with caution!"

No sooner had they spoke those words than each of their orders had been obeyed. A second platoon flew overhead and joined the first. The lasers finally concentrated their fire not on the ships, but on the Teen Ninjas themselves.

More jawbreakers crashed into the base and more smoke rose. The armada moved forward with purpose. The triangular shape which the fleet formed upon their launch gradually broke apart and each one moved to either an already open hangar in the base or to one of the holes that had been made by the earlier jawbreaker blasts.

The Delightful Children's ship docked at the lowest hangar of the facility. The wooden door of the ship landed on the metallic platform with a thud. They stood beside Stickybeard. Behind them were the same Ice Cream Men and Teen Ninjas that helped in the Artic Base escapade.

As a unit, they marched into the base and predictably KND agents were waiting with weapons trained on them and more joined them as they marched forward.

There were cries from the opposing crowd, to drop their weapons and put their hands up, but they kept marching forward.

This was followed by cries of final warning.

They marched on.

This was followed by shouts and running forward.

They marched on and the Delightful Children took out their laser pistols and were the first to fire.

* * *

Mr. Fizz's ship docked itself on an upper level of the base. He along with his subordinates and The Consultant walked down the halls, fizz blasters pointed down each hallway they came across making short work of the few agents that did come by to stop them.

As expected, with all the chaos that had taken place on earth, they were short-handed up on the moonbase. Fewer than ten agents had come to try and stop them. Although, this didn't mean they could leave their guard down.

"It seems that may have been the last of the agents within this section, I believe it would be best if we lock the children in the brig of the ship and help our allies at a different part of the facility," Mr. Fizz said to the Consultant.

"I agree," responded the Consultant. "I suggest you all move to the computer room, as where the best agents will be stationed. As for myself, I have business to attend to in the hold.

"The hold? I thought we were avoiding that section since we don't have enough details on the prisoners."

"True, but since the computer in that room is isolated from the main computer's system, it would be wise to peruse it before the end of the battle."

"Alright, I'll send a couple of my men with you."

"That won't be needed. All of the agents will be focused on the points of attack, and even if there are a couple I can handle myself," the Consultant responded as he held up his laser pistol.

"Very well, good luck in there." Mr. Fizz then motioned with his right hand and he and his men took a turned back towards the ship with unconscious agents in hand, while the Consultant continued forward, pistol still drawn.

* * *

Chaos abounded in the computer room of the base. Numerous Ice Cream Men, cats, and candy pirates invaded the computer room and were at a stalemate. Agents were trading blows with the minions. Their confidence soon gave way to concern when these two-bit baddies didn't go down after a few hits and kicks.

"Numbuh 65.3, have you sent out the distress call yet?" asked Numbuh 362 urgently.

"I've sent out at least ten!" responded Numbuh 65.3. "Everyone is either busy fighting villains down on earth or have been captured!"

Numbuh 362 thought for a moment. She winced before uttering the words, "Shed the camouflage."

Numbuh 65.3 hesitated. "A-a-are you sure?"

"It's either we lose that or everything."

Numbuh 65.3 typed quickly but was interrupted by a fiery-black figure crashing through the monitor. He landed on the ground unconscious and Numbuh 362 just fell to her knees and looked up to see Father.

"Having some trouble in here? I wouldn't worry about it." He bent down and looked her right in the eyes. "Because there's about to be a whole lot more."


	13. Chapter 13

The automated doors opened to the prison block and the Consultant strolled in. He looked about the cells to his left and right. Many were teens whose sadness about their decommissioning had turned to panic when they heard the crashes from the other parts of the base.

There were a few adults that the Consultant didn't recognize from his research before entering his venture. About half were concerned, trying to ask the Consultant questions as he passed by them the other half smiled at the thought that their nemeses were facing trouble.

And there were two kids locked in a cell as well, they were just crying. The Consultant thought to comfort them as he passed, but he had more pressing matters to attend to.

His son was nowhere to be found in the prison block, so he moved towards the computer at the end of the hallway. It was a small computer, similar in design to a windows computer from the early 2000s, except it was painted a bright crimson red.

The Consultant pulled up the chair and typed a few keys, but once more the KND's security surprised him.

He put a hand up to his earpiece. "Mr. Boss, I need some assistance."

"Whaddya need?"

"I'm in the prison block, this computer is separate from the main computer's system, but I'm having trouble breaking through the firewall."

"The prison block? What are you doing up there?"

"I have my reasons. Now please beg-"

"What kind of answer is that?"

"Mr. Boss, listen-"

"We've worked hard on this and having you on your own trying to investigate something that wasn't a part of the plan doesn't make sense. Something's fishy about this and you know it."

"MR. BOSS, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! GET ME ACCESS NOW!"

There was a sigh from the other end and soon after, the terminal changed screens to the desktop background.

The Consultant began clicking around. Where was his son being held if not here?

South America? Nothing. Europe? Nothing? Interspace detainment ships? Nope.

"It has to be here," he said.

As he browsed the files he found one that was labelled "Relocation – G Class".

His eyes scanned over the document and as they did, they grew wide. "Mr. Boss, I apologize for my earlier outburst, but I need you to take a memo for me. Deliver it to Father after all this is over."

"First tell me what's going on."

"As I dictate my memo you will receive your answer."

* * *

Father grabbed 362 by the sweatshirt. "Look, we could have a little fight where, inevitably you end up with third degree burns and watch as all your agents get trounced by our army. But I've done that whole song and dance to death. How about instead, you take me to the roots?"

"You know where the roots are, why not go yourself?"

"Because I've got a brain. After I used the roots to alter the DNA of your trees, there is no doubt you would increase security to get there. So, what do you say?"

Numbuh 362 was silent.

Father sighed. "And here I thought I wouldn't even have to lift a finger."

Father raised his index finger and lit it in blue flame. He began to bring it closer to Numbuh 362.

"W-wait. Stop! I'll take you."

He extinguished the flame. "Good." He dropped her to the floor. "Lead the way."

David elbowed an operative sneaking up behind them. She fell to the ground, bruised an unconscious.

It seems that more and more agents were moving towards their section of the attack. This was good as it indicated that they were doing quite a number on the agency, but it also meant they couldn't take a breath.

Lenny shot a sniper up in the rafters.

Then they saw something hard and metallic rush past them. Turning around they saw it a Teen Ninja had fired one of their wrist rockets.

"Watch where you're firing that thing!" they said.

But the Teen Ninja leveled his launcher at them and fired again.

* * *

After a handprint, eye, and DNA scan a metallic elevator opens up. Father and Numbuh 362 step in and the doors close.

With his silhouette, one could never tell how Father was really feeling. The main indicator of his mood was always whether or not he was inflamed. In this moment, for the first time in a long time, Father was confident. In all his years he had never seen his enemies in such turmoil and chaos. Never had he been so close to devastating the KND, much less ending them. But in a few short minutes his long war would be over.

The doors to the elevator opened. The room that holds the roots had changed since he had last seen it. The cavernous walls remained the same, but surrounding the root system was a clear glass container and beside that was a computer terminal.

"Open it," said Father.

Numbuh 362 approached one of the terminals, but as she did, she heard the sound of a 2x4 gun cock.

"That won't be necessary Numbuh 362," a voice said.

From the shadows, the agents of sector V stepped out with large metallic packs on their backs attached by a hose to a gun.

"Don't move a muscle Father, Numbuh 2 made these weapons himself. Their could extinguish the sun if we wanted to," Numbuh 1 said.

Father remained motionless and Numbuh 362 joined Sector V as she was tossed an extra weapon.

"Numbuh 362, I feel it necessary to say that we have contact with one of our teen operatives. He let us in on Father's plans. We considered contacting you, but we couldn't know if our communications had been tapped. So, to preserve the KND, we asked our contact to have him and the rest of our teen operatives shed the camouflage," explained Numbuh 1.

"Under normal circumstances I would have you suspended indefinitely and possibly decommissioned, but I was about to do the same thing before Father barged in."

"That's a relief. In addition, we also brought a couple of reinforcements."

Though they were deep below the moon's surface. There were still sounds of battle they could hear above them, however it was quite quiet before. Now, the sound had increased three times over."

"I believe your army is facing quite a bit of trouble right now Father."

* * *

The Delightful Children, finally managed to knock on conscious the traitorous teen that had tried to smite them, but they were soon meet with ten more.

All around them, random Teen Ninjas were turning on the army. Their forces had been thrown into complete confusion as they tried to discern who was friend and who was foe around them.

That wasn't even the worst of it. Apparently, they had called reinforcements from allies outside the KND. Numbuh 2s younger brother was currently piloting a large wooden mech, making short work of the Ice Cream Men that were there.

There was this kid with bright orange hair and sunglasses that had landed in what seemed to be a combination of an airplane and spaceship. Although he wasn't an official KND operative, his skills seemed to be higher than that of most agents.

The forces formerly dominating the entirety of the KND forces, now found themselves being slowly forced back towards their ships.

The Delightful Children took a breath and went to land the first strike against the ninjas that surrounded them.

* * *

Father hadn't moved a muscle since the KND operatives surrounded him, he just averted his gaze from them staring at the ground scowling.

"You know Father, you had me going with that speech at the mansion. A decent ruse, but little did you know that we were soon fed all the information regarding your uprising."

"Though, I believe one thing was right about the speech. You are a coward, so call off your forces and we'll go easy on you!"

In a mixture of confidence and caution, Sector V approached Father, Numbuh 1 was about to lay a hand on him, when he erupted in ten-foot-high flames, throwing them backward.

"I wasn't here when this started, but I was here when it ended, and to get so close and be stopped by you all yet again?!" Father exclaimed. "You. Big. JERKS! Now you've made me angry. Very. Very! VERY! ANNGGGGRRRRRRRYYYYY!"

Flames engulfed with entirety of the of the room.


	14. Chapter 14

The floor shook violently in the hanger, just as the Delightful Children were attempting to push a couple of Teen Ninjas off the top of them.

The two sides immediately stopped fighting, partially out of confusion and because the rest had been tossed off balance.

_He didn't. He didn't_ the Delightful Children thought. _We haven't even begun the evacuation process_

With their adrenaline pumping far faster now, they threw the Teen Ninjas off them and exclaimed. "THE ROOTS HAVE BEEN INCINERATED! GET BACK TO THE SHIPS!"

Their allies immediately grabbed any of their fallen friends and scrambled back towards the ships.

Their enemies, noting the tremors, bought into the Delightful Children's claim and began scrambling towards their own ships, dragging what agents they could with them.

The Delightful Children were the last aboard their ship, just before pressing the button to close the door behind them, a Teen Ninja asked, "Don't you dudes wanna make sure your Father's safe?"

They pressed the button. "He flew in, he can fly back out easily. Besides, for screwing up the plan, why make his evacuation easy?"

No sooner had the door closed, than Stickbeard began moving full speed ahead away from the base. Followed shortly after by the rest of their fleet as well as KND ships.

After a minute, a man-sized fireball burst through the collapsing trunk, smashing a sizeable portion of it into pieces. It eventually landed on one of the nearby ships.

Afterwards, entire moonbase collapsed completely, bits and pieces of rubble began flying through space and towards the fleeing ships.

"Prepare for evasive action!" shouted Stickybeard as he spun the wheel.

Everyone aboard lost their balance and many tumbled into one another. In brief moments when the ship remained steady, a few latched onto some rails and heavier items found aboard.

Then, the rudder of the ship was struck.

"HOLD ON FOR DEAR LIFE!"

The ship began to spin violently and those who were on the main deck could see the surface of the earth approaching quickly.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

And not a few minutes after, ships smashed onto what most thought to be a building. Many, kept their eyes closed, believing they may be dead already, however, when they finally opened their eyes, many found purple bruises to be the worst of their injuries, while a handful had a couple of broken limbs.

The Delightful Children, grunted in pain as they pushed some debris off the top of them and looked out a hole in the ship's hull.

Looking at the base of the ship, they could see that the yellow emergency airbag had inflated in time to save them all from certain death. Looking up, an iron fence could be seen not too far in the distance with an gate in the middle. A pathway leading from the gate ran up to the building they were atop of.

Something was quite familiar about this environment, but they couldn't quite place it, as they were still dazed and possibly receiving a concussion from the crash, but soon after the fog faded away and they realized that this wasn't a random building.

This was Delightful Manor.

* * *

Now on the ground they had a better view of their caved in second floor and the cracked and open ship that now occupied the space.

Around them, many were receiving first aid until they could get to an actual hospital.

In the distance, they could see the rest of their less damaged fleet approaching the mansion grounds at a far safer speed than they did.

The ships touched down and those aboard walked out, some were groaning from injuries, far less painful than those that were suffered aboard their ship.

Soon the voice of Mr. Fizz could be heard, "What was that!?"

He approached the Delightful Children.

"What happened to the plan?"

"Nothing happened to the plan, there was just a mishap."

"A mishap!? I barely got out of there alive!"  
"So did we!"  
Cat Lady approached along with Count Spankulot. "My cats have got debris in their fur that will last a month! You're going to pay for their grooming bills."  
"Be silent Cat Lady," said Count Spankulot. "It's not these Children's fault, Stickybeard is to blame for not constructing more efficient ships."

"Oh, is that right bucko?" Stickybeard said as he joined the group. "Well me and the boys designed the ship after the intel YOU and Soda-lad provided. Maybe you should've gotten us better info."

"My name is Mr. Fizz, you degenerate. Besides, it was you and Cat Lady's job to train your troops to be ready for the big fight, if they had been faster at taking down the troops, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess."

"But the kids hired the Teen Ninjas," replied Cat Lady. "When they turned traitor, everything went south."

"Well excuse us for not vetting over 10,000 teens efficiently enough!"

The group continued to pass along blame and the minions and hired help around the group took inspiration from them and began arguing amongst themselves who was to blame for their failure. This spread until everyone on the manor was raising their voices in rage about what happened on the moon.

Then, bright lines of flames flew over their heads, nearly singeing their hair off.

Everyone looked to the source and saw that Father was now standing atop the ship that had crashed into his house.

"Great now I have your attention. Now listen here and listen good. You wanna know who screwed everything up? Well, it was me. I failed. Numbuh 1 and his fellow hooligans caught onto our plan and got their double agents to turn against us as well as bring some extra help with them. When I went down to the roots, they were waiting for me with weapons that could've put out my sparks for good.

"It was me. I didn't lie well enough when they came to the manor to question me, and even then, I lost my cool at the roots and incinerated them too early. So, does anyone want to lodge a complaint?"

As he finished that sentence, he put his arms up and flames appeared in each hand. Everyone's eyes were either locked onto Father or staring at one another, wondering if anyone had the gumption to say something to him.

"Because you know what?"

Father then jumped off the roots and landed on his front porch, slowing his landing with his flames.

"I couldn't care less because, man, that was amazing!"

His flames went out and everyone looked at him, now not with fear, but with confusion.

"In less than three months, we've kidnapped hundreds of agents and locked them up in their own prison, and we even turned that prison into our own base of operations. We've thrown the KND to chaos here on earth. We've incinerated the roots of their moon base. They were so desperate to stop us, they had to reveal their double agents in the Teen Ninjas.

"In all my years, I have never seen this kind of progress this kind of success. Even Grandpappy's damage was nothing compared to this. It will take them years to undue this, if they even can at all."

He began walking down the sidewalk. "Yes, my friends we didn't succeed in ending their agency completely, they'll no doubt pop up again and try to stop us. But what we have now is hope. Specifically, the knowledge that they are not invincible.

Father took out his phone. "I'm getting the best caterer in town and the finest soda money can buy, it's all on me folks. This isn't a time for blame or a pity party. It's time to celebrate!"

A few of the minions began clapping, and eventually everyone clapped and cheered, but not the Delightful Children.

They were silently staring at their Father, who was back, and better than ever.

* * *

**A Note from Your Author: Some of you may think that this is the last chapter, but fear not, there is still the epilogue, which will hopefully satisfy the remaining plot thread(s) that have yet to be truly resolved. I hope it will not disappoint.**


	15. Epilogue

Villains, their minions, and all others who were hired sat at around outside Delightful Manor in the cool evening air at folding tables the caterers had set up.

They told tales of their fights on the moonbase in great excitement as they guzzled down bottles full of soda and bit down on pulled pork sandwiches.

In the caterer's tent, Father was on a call with a contractor, heatedly trying to convince the man on the other side of the phone, that the request was when saw his Delightful Children returning to the tent for seconds.

"Hold on a moment, Children," he said.

They stopped and looked at him as he approached.

"Yes Father?"

"Where's Mr. Fizz at?"

"We believe he's on the other side of the mansion sir."

"Good. Well, we had a little issue with the soda."

"Do you want us to go fetch him?"

"No, actually, you shouldn't. You see it looks like I've bought to much soda for the evening. I would drink some myself, but I need to be sharp when I call back the contractors. So…"

Father reached into the cooler and brought out a bottle of finely aged grape soda and poured some in five cups.

"Go ahead and have some."

"But Father that's against the law."

"As long as no one who cares sees it, there won't be a problem. Besides, this could be your only chance to have soda until teenhood, I'd take this opportunity."

The Delightful Children stared at Father, wondering if this was a test of some sort, but they could see no malice in his eyes, it was actually a look they couldn't place as they hadn't seen it before.

Risking his possible wrath, they grabbed the cups and took a sip. It was perhaps the greatest thing they would ever taste.

"Thank you, Father."

"Don't mention it." Father's phone then began to ring again. "If you'll excuse me-"

The Delightful Children walked away and Father answered his phone. "Look, it's a ship that can sail the suburbs, is it that unrealistic to think that it may end up in someone's roof?"

"Father, this is Mr. Boss."

"Mr. Boss! If everything's going well up in the Artic Base, why not pop on by, we still have plenty of soda and BBQ to go around."

"I've heard, but something else has come to my attention and you need to hear it."

Father's tone turned from jovial to businesslike. "What is it?"

"The Consultant found something when he was on the Moonbase, he told me to take down a memo for you."

"Well, what did it say?"

"It says: 'Father, during the mission I broke away to investigate the holding cells for my son, when he wasn't found among them, I checked the computer. After some investigation, I now know where my son is. I can't say too much, I don't know if they could be listening. All you need to know is the following, I'm taking an escape pod and traveling to an undisclosed location until further notice. Secondly, beware, your enemy is far bigger than you've ever imagined. The Consultant.'"  
"Cryptic. You got any idea what he meant by that last part?"

"I didn't at first, so I had my employees steal as much data from the computer before the base was destroyed. We were only able to find bits and pieces, but we found what we think is the name: G:KND."

"G:KND? I'm 99% sure what the KND stands for, but not the G."

"Same here, but what we've found combined with what the Consultant said and how he said it… I wonder if by destroying the moonbase, we bit off more than we can chew."

Father thought for a few moments. "Well, we should investigate as thoroughly as possible, but right now, let's not worry our heads on what we essentially know nothing about. Why not come on down?"

Mr. Boss was silent for a moment. "I may come by a bit later."

"Suit yourself." Father hung up the phone and turned to grab some food himself.

As he filled his plate, he couldn't help but wonder what this G:KND was, but at the same time, his thoughts were on the Consultant, and though he would never admit it out loud, he was happy he was one step closer to finding his son.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his Delightful Children taking a seat with some Teen Ninjas near the tent, and though one couldn't tell, beneath his silhouette suit, he was smiling.

* * *

**A Final Note From Your Author: **I understand it's taken me a longer time than most would to finish this story, and so I'd like to say thank you for not only reading, but being patient with me as I wrote this.

I'm uncertain at the time if I want to write a sequel to this story and continue the cannon I've developed. Here, on the one hand, I'm content with the story I've written, and the things I left vague such as the Consultant's disappearance and the exact location of his son would keep my story interesting to readers who wish to theorize where they are and perhaps build off this cannon in their own minds.

On the other hand, the idea of fleshing out this cannon is somewhat enticing as a way to challenge myself, improve myself as a writer, and continue to provide entertainment for those who come across my profile.

What I can say with certainty is that I am happy I have finally finished this story, and regardless of how you feel about it, thank you once more for reading any amount of it.


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